Swapped, Switched, and Confused
by purrpickle
Summary: When TPTB, or, rather, those associated with TPTB, get involved, a pesky thing like time doesn't matter. Two Willow Rosenbergs wake up to find that they have swapped places. Now it's up to two different Scooby Gangs in time to get them home. W/T
1. Prologue

AN: I don't own Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, nor the characters within.

* * *

It was the bewitching hour. Glancing up at the old clock Giles had proudly brought with him from England, Willow sighed and reached out to turn off the reading lamp she had been using. Leaving a bookmark in the binding of the book she had been looking through, she shut it, rose from her seat, and stretched out her shoulders and arms. Making her way to the kitchen from memory, a soft light shone down from atop the stairs telling her that Giles was still awake (or had fallen asleep reading with the light on again).

She smiled – Giles was so predictable - and opened the refrigerator, squinting at the light that blasted her in the face. She grabbed herself the carton of milk. Clinking down a glass from Giles' cupboard, she sighed with relief when the cool milk soothed her mouth. Sometimes, milk was wonderful.

Finishing her drink, she put the cup into the sink and filled it with water, replacing the milk back into the cold where it belonged. Making her way back to the study, she thought about going upstairs to turn off Giles' light for him, but decided against it. The idea of seeing the British gentleman in his pajamas didn't frighten her – in fact, it might even be cute – but Willow really didn't want to run into him if he was still awake and face some awkward questions. So she grabbed her stuff, slid into her warm winter coat, armed herself with some stakes and holy water, and left Giles' apartment.

Willow didn't really mind being the one who always stayed longer than everyone else when they were researching. She loved to look through the old books that Giles had brought with him. Each one was different, and the redhead knew that if she treated them the way they were meant to be treated, the books wouldn't mind dispensing their knowledge to her. In fact, Willow was sure that the reason Xander, Cordelia, and Buffy rarely ever achieved their goals when researching was because they thought the books were there just to help them or sleep behind. Most books wouldn't care, though magical ones, as a rule, did. Willow always made sure to treat hers with respect anyway.

It was a rather warm night, and she would have gladly taken a more leisurely stroll through the park, but this was Sunnydale and the Hellmouth, and she couldn't take any chances.

So, when a bright pink aura suddenly surrounded her, she wasn't altogether surprised. She was, however, alarmed. She twirled around, trying to see who had sent the cloud, but no one was there, and as soon as it had appeared, the pink was gone.

Willow blinked, and stopped. Had the pink ever been there? She didn't feel any different. Had no trouble breathing. Bringing up her arm, she sniffed the sleeve of her coat, seeing if any new scent had settled there. Nope. Stuffy leather smell, as always. She touched her right hand with her left. Was it sticky? Oily? Nope, skin-feeling as always. Taste…? Slightly hesitantly, she licked her finger. The same.

Shaking her head, she decided that it was just caused by her lack of sleep. Turning back towards her house, she figured it was only logical to run the rest of the way.

So she did.


	2. Chapter 1

She woke up, yawning, reaching out to turn off her annoyingly buzzing alarm. However, someone had already beaten her to it. That someone then sighed sleepily, brought the covers back up, and snuggled in securely around her. Willow settled back in, feeling safe and warm. Arms slid around her waist, secure, a heavenly scent of vanilla and sandalwood surrounding her, and the redhead decided, 'Hey, I don't need to go back to school today, anyway. I'm so far ahead…'

And then her eyes shot open.

The first thing the teenager noticed was that dark blonde hair seemed to be veiled across her eyes. Raising a hand to try and brush it away, she found she couldn't, someone's shoulders being in the way. The second thing the teenager noticed was the soft, even breathing that blew across her ear. It was somehow comforting, and Willow's half-asleep mind tried to convince her to succumb back into dreamland. However, no matter how tempting it was, and no matter how peaceful she felt…

Willow forced herself to open her eyes again. When she wasn't paying attention, her body had decided it was going to sleep again, but she couldn't let it. No! She couldn't! She wanted to know what was going on! So, with a determined expression on her face, she forced herself to pull herself out of the arms that held her, untangle her legs from the others, and managed to get herself situated with tripping only once.

"Mmm? Willow? You don't have an early class this morning… Come back to bed…" mumbled from behind her.

Willow swung around, demanding, "Buffy? What are you talking about? Of course we have class! And how did you get in here anyway…?"

She gaped. Pointing frantically at the bed, she blurted out, "You're not Buffy!"

And indeed the person in Willow's bed wasn't the blonde slayer. The girl – no, woman, Willow's mind registered – was indeed a blonde, but her hair was much longer than her best friend's, and more multi-colored. It hung around her face, framing the purest blue eyes Willow had ever seen, even sleep-filled as they were. Plump lips were in a pout, and a graceful hand reached up to tuck stray hair behind an ear, and Willow's gaze followed the arm down to a gray tank top that proudly sported UCSD on the front, doing nothing to hide the fact that the woman was well endowed (with a blush, Willow crossed her arms over her own lack of a chest, feeling rather silly in her cotton pajamas with black-and-white cows jumping over yellow moons).

Wait a minute! Why should SHE feel silly? This was Willow's house, Willow's room, and just how did this beautiful woman that she had never seen before get in here?

The woman looked at her, a confused expression on her face. "Uhm… I should hope I'm not Buffy," she said softly, "Cuz', you know? Wiccan and Slayer don't really work well together in one person. And," she rose from the bed, crossing over to where Willow stood, "I really wouldn't want to share."

The teenager took a step back, blushing. Underneath the tank top, the woman had on a pair of striped green and red boxers, showing off her long legs. She was also a couple of inches taller than Willow, and Willow figured that was why she had felt so secure in her arms… She always did have a thing for taller guys (Oz was a special case)…

She snapped back into focus when the blonde frowned and cocked her head, "Uhm, hun? You're looking a bit short." She suddenly frowned, crossing her arms across her chest, "You didn't do another spell, did you?"

"Spell?" Willow squeaked out, "No, no spell here. The only spell I did was to get Angelus back his soul – but hey! You still haven't told me why you're here! In my room. And," she looked at her suspiciously, "How do you know that Buffy's the Slayer?"

"W-Willow?" The blonde woman started to stutter, beginning to look concerned. Reaching out to gently touch her arm, she asked, "You alright? Don't you remember? Dawn was having a big sleepover – with Buffy supervising, of course – and we volunteered to get out of the way. Anya and Xander couldn't house us because it was their anniversary yesterday, so we snuck over to your house for, as you put it, 'some alone time'?"

Willow shook her head. She was beginning to feel miserable. Here was this woman, seeming to know Buffy and who Buffy was, talked about her and Xander as if she knew them and they knew her – and Anya too! But why would Anya and Xander have an anniversary? Was Anya, somehow having gotten her powers back, playing a trick on her for not helping her get her necklace back? And who was Dawn? Did Buffy get a new pet? And why would a pet have a sleepover?

Something seemed to register in the woman's eyes, and she took a step back, saying softly, "Oh. Something must have happened. How much should I say? The truth?" The blonde laughed quietly to herself, sighing, "So my Willow…" Suddenly, the woman looked at her sadly, looking as if she had lost something. However, with an almost unnoticeable movement, she straightened her shoulders, composed herself and captured Willow's eyes with her own. Almost awkwardly, and smiling nervously, she said, "I'm Tara Maclay. Your, uhm…"

The name of Tara fit the woman. Beautiful and graceful. Willow couldn't stop blushing around her, the memory of waking up in her arms still strong and fresh in her mind.

Tara looked unsure as she uttered the next few words, finally raising her head and gazing at her with open blue eyes, "Willow Rosenberg's g-girlfriend."

Willow squeaked and grabbed the phone next to her, hurriedly typing in the number she almost knew as well as Xander's. After a couple of rings, a young female voice that she didn't recognize, answered sleepily, "'Ello? Summers' House o' Doom and Mayhem. Dawn here."

Willow stared at her phone. What? So Dawn wasn't a pet. She was a person. But who was this person? Was Willow going insane? Was EVERYONE going insane? The teenager could feel Tara's presence behind her, soothing and electric at the same time. Willing herself not to pay attention to the woman, Willow yelled into the phone, "I don't know who you are, but get me Buffy! I need to speak to Buffy! It's an emergency. I… Just get me Buffy. Oh, I hope she hasn't gone to school already…"

Suddenly, Tara's hands settled onto her shoulders, and a warm peaceful feeling flowed through her. "I understand that this is scary for you, Willow, but please calm down," Tara murmured, stepping away again and taking a seat on the side of her bed, sensing that Willow, sufficiently calmed, probably wouldn't tolerate her presence.

"What? Willow?" The person calling herself Dawn sounded confused, "You know Buffy doesn't go to school. What's going on? Is Tara alright? Are you alright?"

"Just get me Buffy…" Willow moaned; she would make it all better. After Buffy managed to slay the mean demon in Willow's room, right everything and go back to normal, Willow could cry into Buffy's lap, and it would all be better. She, Oz, Buffy, Cordelia, and Xander could all get together and go to the Bronze after and laugh about it.

Willow ignored, of course, the fact that she wasn't –really- afraid of Tara, and that if she just managed to really think about it, Tara really did make her feel better, and she was beautiful and soothing, and maybe she really wasn't a mean demon, but…

Buffy's voice cut through her inner-babble; somewhere along the way, the person calling herself Dawn had passed the phone to the Slayer, "Willow? What's wrong? Dawn said you sounded upset. Is everything okay?"

Instantly, relief washed through the redhead's body. "Buffy! Buffy!" she burst out, "There's a woman here who's telling me that she's my girlfriend!"

There was silence on the other end. Tara giggled behind her.

"Buffy?" Willow wanted to make sure her friend hadn't hung up on her.

"Willow?" Buffy asked slowly, "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Willow wailed. "I just woke up this morning, and wham! There she was, all wrapped around me - and!" She cut herself off, not willing to say any more.

"And…" Buffy started again, suddenly asking, "Willow, are you drunk?"

"What!?" Willow gasped, "Of course I'm not! You know we're underage!"

"Stoned?"

"Buffy!"

"Alright then, what does this woman look like?"

Willow was confused. Buffy wasn't acting the way Willow thought she should. Maybe this Tara-demon had already gotten to her! "She's a couple of inches taller than me, has long blonde hair, blue eyes, and appears to be older than me." Willow was certainly NOT going to say how she made her feel.

"Oh. Gee, Willow. I don't know. That does sound pretty horrible. How does Tara feel about it?"

The blood drained from Willow's face. Buffy knew about Tara. "Who?" she whispered out, dreading the answer.

"Tara? You know? Your girlfriend? How does she feel about this new woman?"

But Willow didn't hear the rest of Buffy's sentence. The phone slipped from her hand and bounced on the carpeted floor, turning itself off. Suddenly, Tara was behind her, wrapping her arms around her tightly, holding her securely as she cried.

"I'm sorry," Tara whispered into her ear, "I should have told her that it wasn't you."

Willow wasn't in Kansas anymore. But Tara was. And even if Tara was the cause of all this, Willow didn't care anymore. She just wanted to go home. Tara's arms were warm.

***

Willow woke up when her alarm went off. Expecting Tara to turn it off, (the blonde wiccan always the one able to wake up faster) she frowned and made a disgruntled noise when the alarm stayed on. "Tara…?" she grumbled.

_Bzzz bzzz bzzz._

With an exasperated whimper, she reached out and hit the snooze button. Flopping back down, the college student realized what had been bothering her. Tara wasn't next to her. There wasn't even a warm spot where she had lain. Opening her eyes, she frowned and sat up, the covers falling to her lap. "Baby?" She looked around the room.

Tara wasn't there. Picking up her stuffed elephant, she furrowed her brow, getting out of the bed. "Tara?" she called out.

Silence.

"Okay…" she mused to herself, "She must be downstairs, making me some funny-shaped pancakes." She nodded decisively. "Yeah. Don't worry, Willster, that has to be it."

If she wasn't supposed to worry, then why did she run down the stairs?

With a sickening feeling, she stared at the kitchen she had grown up in. There was no Tara. No sizzling pancakes. No Tara-kisses to wake her to the morning. She flew to the cupboards. Pancake mix greeted her.

She sat back against the counter. Maybe Tara had gone to the store to get more…?

No. Willow's analytical mind betrayed her. It was only her and Tara that had been in the house, and they didn't need to eat that much food. She hugged her cow pajamas to herself. Tara couldn't have left her.

Grabbing the phone, she dialed Buffy's number. Maybe… Maybe Tara had left something there that she needed, that she wanted to surprise Willow with.

Buffy's sleepy voice answered after the fifth ring. "Hello?"

"Buffy?" Willow could feel tears begin to rise into her throat. "Buffy, I need-"

"What? Hold on a second," Buffy's voice moved from the phone, "Yes Mom! I know! Getting ready now!"

Willow frowned. Who was Buffy talking to? Joyce couldn't be…

Buffy suddenly came back, "Sorry, Wills', what was that?"

"I need to know, Buffy?" Willow took a deep breath, "Did, did Tara come by this morning?"

"What? Of course not."

She took another deep breath. Her life was beginning to crumble. "Do, do you know where she is…?" she whispered raggedly.

"No." Buffy's voice was pert and matter-of-fact, "Willow, what's wrong? Who's Tara?"

Willow lost all breath in her chest. "What? Buffy, I don't understand! You know Tara. I mean, I knew about people and denial, but isn't this a bit much? Sudden? Didn't you just come to our anniversary? I mean, I know you did. You gave us the matching scarves. The blue and purple ones? You must remember. You have to remember." She was beginning to get desperate.

"Uh, Wills', no matter how interesting this is, I have no idea what you're talking about. Must've been some weird dream, huh? Anyway, fill me in when we get to school, kay? I wanna hear all about it. Right now, Mom's making me get ready for school. Sucky, huh?" Buffy bulldozed through.

"School?" The redhead felt weak. "Buffy, you don't go to school."

Her friend laughed. "God, don't I wish. Would make life so much easier. Then I could hang out with Angel all the time, and hey! You and Oz, too. Get some smoochies going. Oh, and speaking of that – ALright, Mom! I'm coming!" Buffy sighed heavily. "God, mothers. See you at school, Willow."

Willow stared at the wall. With a weak goodbye, she turned off the phone. "Angel? Oz?" With a sinking feeling, she threw the phone down, ran back up to her room, and stopped at the doorway. Seeing the teenage posters on the wall and all of the things she hadn't noticed before, Willow leaned against the doorframe and wrapped her arms around her waist, laughing hysterically.

No wonder Tara wasn't there. This was before Tara had moved. She was still with her family, only two years since her mother had died. Tara was waiting for Willow to find her. And, Willow glanced at her puppy calendar, she had another year before they would meet.

Willow laughed so hard she started to cry. High school was going to be Hell without Tara.


	3. Chapter 2

Tara had decided that they should all meet up at the Magic Box, somewhere neutral for the 17 year old senior in high school Willow. Opening the door with a jingle of the bell, Tara ushered the younger girl in, bundled up in one of her older counterpart's fleece coats.

His face brightening when he saw her, Xander hoisted himself up from the couch provided for the shoppers, and approached her, smiling brightly. "Willster, my man! Or, uh, woman."

Willow stared up at him, awed at how mature and somehow… older, he looked. Her gaze traveling down his face and to his even broader shoulders than she saw every day, she calmed when she saw the same twinkling brown eyes and quirk of a smile. Offering him a slight smile of her own, her gaze traveled to the ex-demon behind him.

Anya stared boldly at her, finally smiling widely and saying frankly, "Hi. You're gay now. So stay away from Xander, okay?"

Willow stared at her, a blush heightening on her cheeks, the memory of the fluke with Xander fresh in her mind. Fortunately, Oz had taken her back. And then, what does she do? Disappear into another alternate dimension where she happened to appear gay! Was God trying to say something to her? Show her just how much Oz was supposed to mean to her?

Without even thinking about it, her eyes had sought out Tara's. The woman smiled at her, and the teenager blushed again, stepping to the side, trying to appear smaller. Here she was, next to a person she was supposed to know almost as well as she knew herself, and she had no idea what to say.

The bell above the door rang again, and Buffy swept in, a teenage girl with long brown hair following her. Having inched to the side of the shop, supporting herself against a bookshelf, Willow stared at the version of Buffy that stood in front of her. She was subdued, mature, sure of herself. And smirking at her.

"Hey Wills," Buffy walked towards her (Willow was surprised but somehow glad to see that she hadn't grown taller at all), smiling. "Sorry about this morning. I just thought that you were playing with me." She winced. "Bad joke, huh?"

Willow nodded silently. The power that was washing off of the Slayer was even more than she remembered. She had grown so much more powerful in the couple of years everyone was telling her that she had jumped. The teenager wasn't really so sure, though. She wanted to believe that she was only in an alternate dimension. The way Tara was looking at her was making her nervous. No, actually, it was the way SHE was reacting to Tara's looks that was making her nervous.

The girl that had come in with Buffy stepped forward. "Hey Willow!" she smiled brightly, "It's so weird to see you again like this. Only this time, it's better! We're like, the same age!"

Willow blinked at her. "…Do I know you?"

The girl lost her smile for a second, exchanged glances with Buffy, who shot her a pained look and a "Don't even try to figure it out," and then turned back to her. Sticking out her hand, the brunette smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Dawn. Buffy's sister."

Willow took her hand gingerly. It seemed solid enough. Although Willow had never heard of Buffy having a sister, she guessed she'd just have to go along with the oddities of this particular alternate universe.

"Okay, so you're Dawn," she nervously babbled. "Tara had said something about you. But, uhm, I didn't know what you'd be. I was sorta thinking along the line of a pet? Like, oh, Buffy has a pet?" Willow didn't look the other teen in the face, sure to find an expression she wouldn't like. "But, but then Tara here had said that this Dawn had had a sleepover, and I was like, Hey! Pets can't have sleepovers, so I was majorly confused."

She attempted to glance up, but she couldn't decipher Dawn's expression, so she forged on, "And, and when I called, there you were – a human being of the human type sounding - so I was even more weirded out, and you mentioned Tara, and I was like, Tara? Tara? Why does everyone know Tara? Has this demon gotten to everyone? And, uh, wow," feeling expressly embarrassed, Willow finished, "What I was trying to say was I thought you were a pet. But you're not. Nice to meet you."

Dawn's eyes were huge, and she seemed disappointed. "A pet. Like Miss Kitty Fantastico? A pet?"

"Who?" Willow asked miserably; was this another person she'd have to meet?

"Buffy!" Dawn turned to her sister, "She thought I was a pet!"

Buffy just smothered a laugh, "That would make sense. I have to feed you and take care of you, don't I?"

Dawn stuck out her tongue at the Slayer.

"Oh, oh, and take out her litter, too, right?" Willow chimed in, trying to alleviate the sense of guilt she held.

Dawn glared at her.

"But D-Dawn," Tara said, coming up behind Willow, "Wouldn't you like that? You'd get provided with everything you need, and get toys, too, right, Willow?"

Willow nodded, thankful for what Tara was trying to do. "Ahuh! Toys! And special treats. And we'd play with you and brush you, and, and, get you even specialer stuff at Christmas, and you wouldn't have to go to school, and everyone'd treat you so non-pet like that you wouldn't even know you were a pet!"

Xander nodded. "Yep," he said, "That's our teenage Willow alright."

Anya just crossed her arms and settled against her boyfriend's side, saying, "Hmmph. I like the older one better. She's gayer."

Xander's eyes got big, and he turned to the blonde, "Now, Ahn, you got to stop that. She doesn't know that she's gay yet. You're probably making her feel all crazy and weird right now."

"It's working!" Willow called across the room.

The black-haired man smiled sympathetically at her and turned back to Anya, "See?"

Anya pouted. Looking at Willow begrudgingly, she said, "Oh, alright. I imagine this is all weird and annoying for you, and I'll try to stop my snide comments, but," she turned back to Xander with a plaintive look on her face, "She's probably come from the time of the fluke, and,"

Willow blushed so red that she was sure the people on Mars could see her.

"See! See!" Anya said proudly, "Look at her! She's sitting right there, probably having wild sex fantasies about you! I know she is. Teenagers and their wild hormones, it's probably seeping from her pores!" Her voice softened, and she brought one hand up to play with the collar of Xander's shirt, "But you're my Xander, and I don't want any competition. We're getting married soon, and, and, I just worry. I don't have to worry about Buffy because she's frigid,"

"Hey!" Buffy interjected, but the ex-demon ignored her.

"And usually Willow's all happy and gay-loving with Tara, doing all that Witchy-stuff that you fantasize about at night - I know, I hear you – so I have you all to myself. Tara's never been a problem. She's been gay as long as I've known her, and Dawn, well," Anya shrugged, "She's Buffy's sister, so Buffy'd kick your ass. It's just…"

Anya looked vulnerable, gazing up at Xander, fiddling with her engagement ring, "I don't want anything to go wrong with our wedding…"

Xander gazed down at her, his brown eyes surprisingly gentle, "Ahn, do you really think I'd find any excuse not to marry you?"

Avoiding his gaze, Anya shook her head.

He reached down and gently lifted her chin up, sliding his arm around her waist to bring her closer. "Ahn, you're the one I want to marry. The one I want to cherish. The one I love. It's true I did have a fluke with Willow, but that's done with. And now? No offense, Wills, but I don't think you're legal. Statutory rape and all that." Xander looked down at his fiancé with such love filled eyes that everyone in the room had to look away. "Hey. Nothing's going to go wrong with our marriage."

Anya looked up at him, searching his eyes, a slight blush on her face. "You sure nothing's going to go wrong? I don't have to worry more than I already am?" Her voice was high and childish.

Xander nodded. "I promise."

"Oh, good." Anya hugged him hard. "Now let's go home and have some orgasms!"

"Ahn!"

Willow was in awe. She had never known that Xander would find love with Anya, of all people. He had just broken up with Cordelia in her world, Faith was with…whoever she was with, and Buffy was with Angel, and she? Willow began to get depressed. She was still with Oz…

"Uhm…?" Clearing her throat, Willow suddenly had everyone's attention on her. Xander and Anya were now cuddling on the couch, Buffy was standing near the counter with Dawn, flipping through the ordering magazines, and Tara sat off to the side, watching her with a soft neutral expression on her face. "Yeah…" the redheaded teen waved self-consciously, "I was just wondering… Where are Giles, Faith, Cordelia, Angel, Wesley, and Oz?"

***

Feeling suspicious in her dark shades and picking at the sleeve of her fluffy pink sweater that she had not worn since her senior year in high school, and chagrinned to see that it was as big as she remembered it being, Willow slipped into the school library. It was so weird to see the halls of Sunnydale High intact, and all the high school students bustling around in them made it ten times worse. This was where her pivotal years had taken place, and now, two and a half years older at 20 years of age, she felt like it was illegal stepping on school grounds.

The library was exactly like she remembered it: a home away from home. The books still lined the walls, the tables all arranged for the best researching rings, and the sight of Giles hustling about in the background, making sure that any student weird enough to have wandered inside hadn't touched his precious tomes.

Slinking in, Willow quickly shut the door behind her, looked both ways, and then jumped behind a chair pushed close to the table. Making her way to right behind Giles, she cupped her hands to her mouth, and hissed, "Giles!"

The Englishman straightened, too refined to jump, and turned around, holding his feather duster aloft, the rims of his glasses slightly crooked. Seeing her, his gentle eyes softened in surprise, and asked, "Willow? Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?"

"Oh." Embarrassed, Willow slipped them off. She had totally forgotten that she had been wearing them, some attempt at making her feel better at her stealth work and – okay. She had just wanted to play like Xander and pretend she was on mission of great importance; for which she really was on, anyway.

"Uhm, Giles?" The redhead began, looking everywhere but at his face. He had already left for England at her time, and it was so nice to see him again, even if she could tell (guiltily) that he had less wrinkles. She was pretty sure that she would be part of the reason that he gained more in the next two years. She had to stop herself from jumping into his arms, pretty sure that he would find that extremely odd, so she busied herself with continuing to unravel her used-to-be favorite sweater.

"Yes?" Giles replaced his feather duster with a box sent from England, and started to remove books from inside. Handing some to her, he said, "Here, would you file these, please?"

Finding herself back into the role of his helper, Willow felt the calm that had always washed over her descend on her once again, and she gladly accepted the task. Walking over to where he pointed, she looked at the spines of the books as she talked, "I, uh, vee… vee… tee… no, that's not it, I need vee… Oh! Here it is. There you go! Uh, Giles, I need your help. Oh! Malhouser's Compendium. I remember reading that one… Very interesting. Not as good as Gargholyes, but still… emm… emm… There you are."

After shelving the five books, she turned back. Trailing her hand down the bookshelf she stood in front of, she said, "Yeah. Giles, I need your help. You see…"

"Yes?" The Watcher looked up, pushing his glasses back onto his nose.

And this was how Willow usually remembered him. Standing in the library, surrounded by all of his books, backlit from behind, and looking so unruffled and cool and British that she could rationalize the reverent crush she had had on him. Here she was, closer to his age than ever before (okay, by only six years, seeing as he was almost three years younger and she was about three years older) and she still appreciated all of the things he had done. Taught her, nurtured her, parented her.

Taking a deep breath, she was going to explain when the door slammed open, heralding the arrival of teenage Buffy Summers and Xander Harris, the latter bearing a box of jelly donuts and a bag from the Espresso Pump.

"Ah, Buffy!" Seeing his charge waltz in, Giles shot Willow an apologetic look and said, "Just a minute, Willow. I'll be right there to help you with whatever you need," and then walked over to where Buffy slumped down onto her usual spot at the head table.

Xander awkwardly approached her where she stood and offered her the box of donuts, handing her an iced mocha with the other hand. He nervously looked everywhere except at her face directly, and when she took a donut and mocha, thanking him, he mumbled a "you're welcome" and ran back to take a seat next to Buffy, spouting, "Just a donut, just a donut and mocha, nothing to see here, moving on…"

Frowning, Willow tried to figure out why he was acting so weird. Then it hit her. This was senior year, right? And Cordelia wasn't with Xander like she should have been. Oh. This had to be right after the fluke… Great. Just her luck. She had lost Tara, and now she had to deal with a nervous Xander and a cautious Oz.

Leaning against the bookcase she had shelved recently, she was content to munch on her donut and watch the teenagers in front of her interact. Giles had disappeared into his inner sanctum again, reappearing in a second holding a sword of Etruscan origin (of course, Willow wasn't supposed to know that), and handed it to Buffy.

They really did look younger. It was amazing what two years and a half could do to the Scooby Gang, and especially with the appearance of Dawn and Tara and Spike and Riley and…

Willow suddenly stood up straight. Hold on. Would Dawn be here? She certainly remembered Dawn having been at this time, still the annoying little sister with a heart of gold. But… Wow. Dawn supposedly wasn't actually alive in this world yet. So would she be there, in Buffy's household, at the junior high now anyway? Willow's mind worked frantically, trying to figure this out. There was no need for Dawn in the world yet, and Buffy had said that the monks had sent them all false memories. Did that mean that Dawn HADN'T been there every time she had been over at Buffy's house? That she wouldn't be here now? There would be no need for the false memories any time soon, so they wouldn't have come yet. This was so… odd. Would she have no Dawnie here, either?

"Hey Wills?" Buffy piped up, and the redhead looked up, wiping her face free of crumbs, "I'm all ears now. Sorry about this morning, but Mom was being such a royal pain, and I couldn't talk long. I hope everything was okay."

Willow nodded. Here was her chance to test her theory. "And Dawn too, right? I bet she didn't help."

The blonde just looked confused. "Dawn? Willow, is this about your dream, too?"

Well, there you go. No reason to have memories. Another ache blossomed in Willow's chest. She had now lost two of the women who held her heart. She really wanted to go back! Who knew how messed up the spatial time continuum was getting? And poor Past Willow… She would have no idea what her future held for her. For all she knew, she and Oz were still together…

As if sensing she was thinking about him, Oz came in, quietly shutting the door behind him. He was wearing his usual outfit of a long tee-shirt and baggy pants, and, for one second, Willow's heart twinged.

He was as exactly as she remembered. Teen god and Oz. The werewolf aura around him making him that much more mysterious, closemouthed as he was already. But, then, in succession, Veruca and Tara flashed before her mind, and hurt and love washed over her. Tara… Tara was so much better for her than Oz ever was. It wasn't his fault, but hers. And Tara. She had Tara now. She may have loved Oz once, but her heart belonged with the blonde wiccan.

Nodding at Buffy and Xander, the redheaded boy made his way over to where she stood. Oh. This was going to be awkward.

"Alright!" she decided, before he could actually reach her, taking a step away from him so she stood in the middle of the room, all eyes on her. She tried to ignore the hurt expression that flashed on Oz's face. Placing her hands on her waist, she asked, "Don't you notice anything different?"

Buffy was the first to speak. Sitting up straight in her chair so she could give her friend her whole attention, she exchanged glances with Xander and hazarded a guess. "Your hair!" she said brightly, ever the popular blonde Slayer, "You did something with your hair, didn't you, Wills?"

"Lookin' good, Red," Faith said, having entered the room when Willow was making her announcement. Her deep voice was so familiar sounding and low that Willow almost jumped. Calm down, Willow, for all you know, she hasn't turned evil yet, she told herself, still frightened by the dark Slayer's appearance. "Our little Bookworm's growin' up." Faith took a seat atop a low bookcase across from her.

Xander nodded exuberantly, stopping abruptly when Oz glared at him. "Sorry," he mumbled, ducking his head. "But it's true. You do look good - In a friend complimenting a friend kind of way, I mean!"

Willow sighed. Rubbing her arms, she thought, this is going to be fun. Running her hand through her bangs, she asked, "Don't I look… older?"

Buffy frowned. "Willow, is this about what you called me about earlier? Cuz I sure don't understand what's going on."

A look around the room confirmed that everyone felt the same way.

Oz finally spoke after regarding her for a few seconds. "No, I see what she means. There is something different about you." His green eyes looked deeply into hers gently.

Not strong enough from keeping herself from blushing, Willow looked away. Clearing her throat, she nodded strongly, took a deep breath, and then addressed the whole room. "Okay, I don't really understand what happened – heck! I have no idea how this happened! I was just spending some quality time with my gir-good friend," she stumbled, not quite sure she wanted to spill the beans just yet to this younger gathering of her friends, "Tara last night and –"

"Wait, that's not true," Giles frowned, adjusting his frames. "I know that you left my house at midnight last night. I, uh, was reading, and I heard you leave the apartment."

"Tara, Tara? You kept on asking me about this Tara…" Buffy mumbled to herself, watching Willow with concerned eyes. This Buffy was so young and innocent, not fully sure of herself just yet. "Willow, who is this Tara?"

"Her invisible friend?" Xander piped up.

"No!" Willow glared at him, remembering the words Tara had said to her two years before when she was talking about how the Scooby Gang didn't even know she existed. "I, just listen to me, please?"

Her voice broke, and she started to pace back and forth, "This is hard enough as it is. Seeing you all… Especially you," she pointed at Oz, Giles, and Faith, who all exchanged puzzled glances, "and all looking so young and nice and not backstabbing and evil and innocent and not dragging my heart all over the floor just because you had to meet her and couldn't contain your wild urges, and!"

Realizing what she was doing, Willow stopped and took a deep breath. "Look," she sighed, "I'm not your Willow."


	4. Chapter 3

AN: I know it's been a while since I updated this, but there's a reason for it. I had more written, but I decided that I hated what I had written about older Willow in younger Willow land. So, while I've been trying to figure out how to rewrite it, I've been absent. However, I decided that I could just post the younger Willow in older Willow land parts. I know it's different than the other chapters, but at least you're getting something. Hope you can understand.

So, remember that **this is just younger Willow**, and enjoy!

* * *

She curled up on her new bed, clutching her stuffed elephant to her chest. It felt weird lying on Joyce's bed, holding her stuffed animal that actually belonged to another her. Looking around the room that had belonged to Buffy's mother, it was too surreal to see some of her stuff mixed with another person's. No matter her denial of the situation, Willow couldn't deny that this room had her flavor in it. She leaned back into the two pillows, and breathed in deeply. Looking over to the left side of the bed – well, the left to her – she looked at the stray blonde hairs that were left there, glinting in the light of the lamp. Propping herself up, Mr. Barrymore (her elephant) forgotten, she leaned into the plumped up pillow, and again took a deep breath.

The smell that had shocked her awake swirled up to her nose again, and she wondered if that was the smell of Tara herself, or of her shampoo. Whatever it was, it soothed her, and she flopped down, hugging the pillow to her chest in lieu of Mr. Barrymore. No matter that it should have been weirder for her to abandon her stuffed animal for the smell of another person. Unbidden, images of the woman who called herself Tara Maclay filled her mind.

Willow suddenly felt her fingers itching. Sitting up and brushing a long red bang behind her ear (it was time to trim it again) her eyes scanned for the item that she knew HAD to be in the room, if a Willow actually lived in it. The laptop blinked at her from across the room, sitting on the desk. Grinning widely, she abandoned everything and jumped off the bed.

Quickly typing in the password and glad that this Willow hadn't changed it, she quickly logged onto the internet and did a search and some hacking for one Tara Maclay.

About an hour later, she sat back. So. Tara was not a demon. She was a human. After also hacking into her counterpart's diary, she had read the story of what happened on her 20th birthday, and tried not to feel guilty.

She was still blushing, though. Willow obviously loved this woman. It was so weird to see her own mannerisms applied to love letters and comments to another woman, but she guessed it wasn't all that weird. Since her vampire counterpart had seemed gay anyway, Willow wasn't all that surprised that she had landed in an alternate dimension where time passed faster and she was gay – yet again.

Putting her hands to her head, she leaned back in the desk chair and sighed. Not for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to kiss a woman. That morning, Tara had seemed so warm, so pleasant. Even if she did have Oz back home, Willow's eyes couldn't help following Tara wherever she went.

She was so graceful, so classically beautiful. So eager and patient. Her eyes shone so much love towards Willow, and every touch that she slipped up on promised so much that it heated her skin just thinking about it. The teenager blushed. It was obvious just how close 20 year old Willow was to Tara. And, if she was honest with herself, she could see how Willow would have fallen for her. Tara had everything Willow always looked for, and even some that Oz lacked.

Oh… Her mind hurt. All this thinking of another her that wasn't her but was supposed to be her but couldn't be her because she couldn't imagine her life ever ending up this way, was making her head feel like exploding. Swinging out of her chair, she decided that she'd go find Dawn and talk to her.

Dawn was the obvious choice because she was the only one that Willow didn't know, other than Tara, but, Willow shuffled her shoulders, what she wanted to talk about wouldn't probably be the best thing to talk about with Tara. Besides, because Dawn was also around her age, the redhead had a feeling that she would relate more than any of the suddenly grownup Scoobies. Besides, it was weird looking at them anyway. They all had another impression of her that she knew they would have a hard time trying to shake off to talk to her like she would want. They had more experiences and memories together.

So, with only a little hesitance, she knocked on the door of the room that had a sign on it that proclaimed 'Dawn's Room! Keep Out!'. In her memory, this room had been a catchall for the junk and books that the Summers family, consisting of Buffy and her mother, had had.

"Just a minute!" The music that had been blaring somewhat noisily became quieter. "There, it's down," Dawn called again, and Willow sighed.

Knocking again, she said, "Dawn, it's… uh… Me. Willow. Can we talk?"

"Oh!" An excited squeak sounded, and then suddenly Dawn appeared at the door. Grabbing her by the hand, she pulled her in. Suddenly, Willow was back into the world of teenagedom that she was used to Buffy's room being in, and she didn't feel so out of place. Leading her to sit onto the other teenager's bed, Dawn took a seat across from her, an eager expression on her face.

"This is so cool," the brunette echoed from that afternoon, "It's so weird seeing you like this when we're closer in age! What are you, 16, 17, 18 years old? The others couldn't see it – including Tara, she told me – but I can." Dawn leaned in, her hazel eyes intent. Studying her for a second, making Willow feel just a bit like she was on the receiving end of a microscope, Dawn nodded. "Yep! You're face is a bit rounder, and you're just a bit shorter." Satisfied with herself, she sat back and asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Willow blushed immediately. Recognizing the sounds from the CD player that Dawn had been listening to before she had come, Willow tried to divert attention away from her reason for being there. "I…uhm… That's Greenday, right?"

Buffy's sister nodded. "Their older music's better."

"Mmm." Willow turned back to her. Now or never. "Uhm… Dawn? Can you tell me about me and- uhm… Tara and Willow?"

A big grin engulfed the other girl's face. "That's so cute!" she crowed, throwing her arms around a startled Willow, hugging her closely, "Eeeh! You guys are so cute together!"

What was she getting herself into?

*

Trembling, Willow quietly shut the door to Dawn's room behind her. Taking a few seconds to compose herself, she finished with a few deep breaths, before beginning to return to her new room. Well, that was her plan. She was going to curl up under the covers, hug her elephant to her and try not to worry about the fact that the elephant was two years older than her own elephant, and devise a plan on how to get home the quickest. She had a brain, a laptop that could plug into the wall, and enough fluid and solids in her body that she could exist for three days without leaving. She was even going to devise a way to go to the bathroom without having to leave the room, and, heaven forbid, run into Tara.

Who was standing right in front of her when she opened her eyes. Jumping, Willow eeped, flattening against Dawn's door with a loud thud.

"Willow?" Tara asked, her voice concerned, frowning at the teen, "You okay?"

Nodding madly, Willow babbled, "Yup! Ahuh! Everything fine! Especially in the Willowness of me being me – not that I'm YOUR Willow! No! Your Willow just happens to be all fine and where I'm supposed to be – well, I think she's fine. She should be fine! I would be very put out if Willow wasn't fine, seeing as she's me and I'm her, and if anything happened to her – or me – then I wouldn't be fine, and that would be very, very bad." And, with one more mad giggle, Willow ran to the room and slammed the door behind her.

Once inside the master bedroom, the teenager felt like slamming her head repeatedly against the wall. Over and over again. It just wasn't fair. Willow and Tara loved each other so much. But here, Willow wanted Oz…not Tara. Didn't she?

A soft knock sounded on the door, and a second later, it opened. Stepping through with a concerned look on her face, Tara quietly closed it behind her. Raising her hand in a little hello, the blonde smiled lopsidedly and spoke, her voice soft, "Hey."

Willow smiled back, her expression wobbly. She scanned the walls beside her and then wrung her hands together, "Hey, yourself."

"I…" Tara tucked some hair behind her ear. Thrusting her thumb out behind her, twisting her waist, she gestured out the door. "I, uh, I was going to go o-out and g-get some food…"

"Oh." Willow nodded. "That's great. Getting food. We all need that!" A blush heightened her face.

"No." Tara shook her head. The look she gave Willow was completely shy. "I was w-wondering if you would want to go with me? Like… Like a late-n-night snack?" Her blue eyes beseeched Willow.

The redhead paused. Finally, with no excuse to think of, she nodded. "Okay."

"What?" Tara's eyes widened.

"Okay." Willow smiled hesitantly at her, "I'll go."

"Oh. Good!" A smile bloomed onto the blonde's face, and Willow was struck with just how beautiful she was when she was happy. Her stomach twinged, and she started to walk forward, grabbing her coat off of the bed. Better to walk in front of her than to look at her, right?

She wished. Now she had mental images of Tara checking out her butt. She sighed, her cheeks tingeing pink. Why hadn't Oz ever affected her this much?

"So, uh," she paused at the bottom of the stairs, "Are we going to walk?"

Tara nodded. "If that's o-okay? I, uh," she gave a small lopsided smile, "I don't know how to drive."

"Okay." Willow shook herself. Why was she so concerned? Maybe, a stray thought flashed through her mind, I'm afraid of spending a lot of time with her?

Tara walked forward and held open the door for her, making sure that nothing was out there. It was only about an hour after dusk, but Willow knew how dangerous it could be. She smiled unconsciously at the gesture, and found the smile given back to be just as she felt: nervous.

They walked silently down the street, awareness making their steps faster. However, as the light steps of the woman next to her dogged her own, Willow knew that something inside of her had changed.

*

Willow had to admit that she was having fun. Tara really was quite an amazing woman, and, she thought, blushing, a great date. It had taken a while, but they had both warmed up to each other. Choosing a small 24 hour Thai restaurant that Willow didn't remember being there, they had sat down across from each other, near the back. The lighting was a little low, but Willow didn't know if that was because it was naturally dim and it was night, or because of something else. Either way, it caused an unavoidable feeling of romance in the air.

Tucking her elbows solidly against her waist, the redhead accepted the menu given to her. Tara did the same, and there was silence for a second as they both looked it over. "I, uhm, didn't know that we were really going to go to a real restaurant," Willow said shyly over the plastic. She looked to see how Tara was going to reply.

"Oh." The blonde looked down for a second. "I didn't even think about it." A smile grew on her face, "You and I would…" She stopped. Her eyes flicked to Willow's face, and the redhead could see some of her pain.

The younger girl suddenly felt hot. Swallowing, she lightly nodded and waited for the older woman to continue.

After a second, Tara's blue eyes were settled, and she folded the menu down onto the table. "This was W-willow's and mine f-favorite place to go after-hours. I guess it w-was just h-habit." She tried to grin. "They do have the b-best Weeping Tiger."

"It is beautiful," Willow agreed, looking around at the décor. Instead of the usual seedy reputation that 24 hour restaurants usually held, she could see that they really had done a good job on keeping an authentic Thai feel.

A young handsome Asian waiter stepped up to Willow's shoulder, and he nodded at them. "Ms Maclay, Rosenberg! How nice it is to see you again tonight." He held up a notepad and made a show of tucking it away into his black slacks. "The usual?" He smiled, looking back and forth between them confidently.

"The usual?" Willow asked hesitantly. She didn't want to corrupt any image of herself as the real Willow.

"Pad se ew," Tara supplied, smiling comfortingly at her.

"Oh, okay," Willow nodded, blushing slightly. "Just making sure. Great." She shoved her menu at the man, wanting him to go away as fast as he could. Acquiescing to her inner wish, he bowed and walked away. "Thanks," she admitted to Tara.

Tara just smiled. Tucking her hair back behind her shoulder, she grabbed the napkin from in front of her and unfolded it, placing it gracefully onto her lap; Willow noticed that she had the most attractive hands she had ever seen. Which was odd, she chided herself, turning her head to the side to make it seem that she wasn't staring, you've never noticed something like that before!

"I assume that you like Pad se ew?"

"What? Oh. Yeah. I don't think I would suddenly develop a liking to it, would I?" Or, she added internally, it could have just been a quirk of this dimension, right? However, Willow couldn't help realizing that she was beginning to believe more and more that it really wasn't an alternate dimension. Maybe because…

Because she was developing a fascination for the woman she was supposed to love in a few years. What had Oz DONE?

"Yeah." Tara nodded. "Al-although I didn't really k-know if you would or n-not. You just al-always ordered it. It…" the blonde laughed to herself, "It was one of your quirks."

Willow noticed, even as she blushed, that Tara wasn't stuttering as much around her. Taking a big breath, she figured that she was going to be as mature as she could. There was something bothering her, and even if she did feel almost bowled over by the maturity that Tara had, she knew that this had to be addressed.

Grabbing the glass of water that was set down in front of her to take a sip, she cleared her throat. "This must be SO awkward for you." Willow squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Upon opening them, she looked up to lock Tara's eyes with her own. "Hello," she said simply, "I'm Willow Rosenberg. Tell me about yourself."


End file.
